Shuri Henry knew the struggles of her community well. She just refused to believe the community couldn't rise up to defeat them.

"Would you like to improve the quality of life in our community?" So asks a flier for a meeting she was helping organize for Nov. 30. "Come out and voice your concerns and ideas."

Henry was killed Thursday night outside of her home, allegedly the victim of a carjacking as she returned from Thanksgiving dinner with her young nephew. She was 40.

"All she knew was how to give," said Lyndon Brown, a district leader who was helping plan the meeting with Henry and has known her for 30 years. "How devastating for her to be taken on Thanksgiving when she's given so much to everyone around her."

Police said she was returning home from dinner around 11 p.m. when she was approached by several men. She was shot and the men drove off in her car. Henry died at University Hospital a short time later.

Her neighbor, Devon Wright, said he was watching football when he heard a loud noise. He opened his door and saw two people in her car, driving away with the lights off.

"At the time I thought she was the driver. I couldn't see her where I was standing," he said. "A few minutes later all these police cars came screaming up. I came outside again to see what they were kneeling in front of. I saw her, face down, lifeless."

Two men and a 15-year-old boy were arrested Friday in connection with the case, after officers spotted them driving Henry's vehicle near Springfield Avenue and Jacobs Street. It is unclear, at this time, if police believe the men are connected to the shooting itself.

"It's really horrible that people would do this, period," said Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. "And at this time is even worse. I'm just happy that our police department was able to act very quickly."

Brown described his longtime friend as a caring and ambitious woman, the daughter of late community organizer Cheryl Cottle-Henry. Brown said he met Henry at the Boys & Girls Club as a child and had been friends since. She was the secretary of the group's alumni association and was planning a reunion for March.

"She was trying to continue her mother's legacy," he said. "She was active. She worked hard on (Gov. Elect) Phil Murphy's campaign. She wanted to make her community better."

Candles were placed on the steps of Shurie Henry, who was killed outside her home on Thanksgiving.

On Friday, friends lit candles on her front steps, feet from the bloodstained sidewalk where her body was found the night before. Wright said he moved in next door to Henry more than a decade ago.

"She was the first person to greet me when I got here," he said. "This place was a lot more vibrant back then."

He said crime had tarnished the neighborhood in recent years. He pointed to the rows of houses on either side his and Henry's.

"There's maybe 12, 13 houses on this block? With Shuri gone, only five of them actually have people living there. The rest are abandoned," he said. "It's gotten to the point where the danger's too close now. I know when it's time to cut and run."

Brown remains undeterred. He said the meeting he was planning with Henry is now underscored with new importance.

"We've got to go ahead with it now."

The meeting will be held on Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the United Community Corp. at 332 South 8th Street.